She's ours! She's finally ours!

We closed on the new house this afternoon! And while I am still incredibly stressed that we haven't sold our current home, I am so, so excited and thrilled that my dream house is ours! I spent most of the evening there meeting with the various people who will help us with all the loose ends and finishing touches, and I walked through this house in disbelief that I get to live there. We plan to move next weekend, the 11th. I better get packing!

I love the front porch and can't wait to put up a porch swing on that far end. The hooks are even already there.

The front door opens into this entry hall. The door has an old-fashioned doorknob, and the entire house is done with period details but also the most modern conveniences and all energy-efficient, green construction.

Straight through the entry is the living room (where Ryan is) . The door on the left is a little powder room.

There is a study to the left of the front door (no picture yet) and then the red dining room is on the right. I do love red but I want to paint this room a more neutral taupe so I can decorate for the seasons with all my cute stuff.

I have always wanted a butler's pantry, and there is one with hutches on either side of this passage into the kitchen. There is also another built-in hutch in the dining room to the right of the butler's pantry door.

This is the view from the living room into the beautiful all-white kitchen. Love it.

Another thing I have always wanted: a farmhouse sink. See, I told you this was my dream house!

The living room has a pellet stove and built-in cabinetry. Also wired for a flat-screen TV above the fireplace which may not be the most decorative but will be way cool if we ever get one. The big chunky thing in the middle of the room is a cross-section of the walls. The house is made of concrete, surrounded by foam and is built to withstand an F3 tornado! What am I going to do with that big chunk of wall?

Leaded glass windows!

These sliding doors off the living room open into a screened porch with a gas fireplace, and that opens onto a back deck overlooking the backyard and the woods.

There is another small screened porch off the master bedroom. Not sure what I want to do with it yet.

The master bath is super vintage-looking. Macauley said the first thing he wants me to do when we move in is use the tub, which is at this point not even hooked up (one of those loose ends I mentioned). I bought some big glass knobs for the drawers.

This is Macauley's room...a really good size with a window seat both in the room and in the closet, too. He wants to put his toy kitchen in the huge closet and call it his apartment.

This loft with built-in desk is upstairs and there is also a huge bonus room above the garage that doesn't have carpet yet but will be a great media room and playroom.

The builder just put in so much detail. Absolutely beautiful...I get to live here! Unbelievable!

Big, big bird

Macauley came home from an afternoon with Lindsay and Tyson on Friday (I was getting my hair done) with this little (not) number. He called and asked if he could have a Tweety Bird out of Tyson's garage and I said okay. They pulled up to my hair place with this Tweety taking up an entire seat in the car. My dad came to visit Friday night and took Macauley back to Rogers with him on Saturday so Macauley could help winterize the bathrooms at the camp. What a thrill to ShopVac all the water out of 20 some toilets. Ryan and I have enjoyed a quiet day today but both missed our little bubby as soon as he left.

Open House at Wanda Gray

We went to Open House at Macauley's school this past Thursday and he was so proud to show us Wanda Gray. What an awesome school--all the parents are so involved, the building is so new and colorful, and he's learning a lot already.

Our very first "project" was to color, cut out and glue the body to Macauley's head shot for this cute display. I had all sorts of aspirations, but we waited until the last minute to get started, and then at that same last minute our next door neighbor (who we have never really spoken to in the 3 and 1/2 years we've lived here--now we're about to move!) knocked on the door and said her little dog was stuck under her porch. We tried to get it out for a couple of hours with no success and then it was too late to do much to the art project. (Ryan got the dog out the next night by popping the step off the porch and using his truck jack to lift it a bit--the neighbor didn't even thank him...).

Each classroom in the kindergarten wing is done in a different color, and Macauley's favorite color is red!

He sits with two other little boys at his table, Logan and Trevor. He showed us all his work and the stuff in his table's caddy, as well as Trevor's completely mangled nametag.

His cubby...

His teacher, Mrs. Megan Bryant...

His buddy Daniel Kim (who Macauley informed us speaks both English and Korean)...

Miss Grace, of the love notes...

An apple art project he said was me...

His bio Mrs. Bryant created after interviewing him about the 4 objects he put in the "Me Bag," also sent home for us to fill on the same night of the doggie dilemma. Mac put in his canteen, a picture of the 3 of us, a picture of Booker and a Spongebob plushie.

Each day he puts his name on the chart for the milk flavor he wants--he usually chooses strawberry, I think.

We finished with a lap or two around the new, brightly colored gym and a pop-in on the PTA meeting. I am so glad he gets to go to such a wonderful school. And I am also glad he likes it so much. We stopped by the Kickapoo Homecoming game on the way home and Macauley told my friends Sarah and Lori, "I go to THE best school in Springfield!" For sure.

Everyday Pretty

I found this old drawer at Spring Creek when I went shopping with Barb last weekend and I knew it would be great holding my jars of detergent in my laundry room. I've had the big jars for a while...why not make utilitarian stuff pretty? I had the dryer sheets in a metal basket, but I switched that out for one of my tarnished silver trays. Laundry is one chore I don't mind doing. I actually like sorting the dirties into piles and folding everything. I don't really like to put laundry away, though. But this old drawer makes me smile and I'm glad I got it.

SDC

We decided to head to Branson late this afternoon and use our season passes to visit Silver Dollar City. It turned out to be a great day there. We went late enough in the day that the crowds had thinned out and it was an overcast day so that helped too. No lines and no stress trying to keep track of Macauley in a hectic crowd.



We didn't do any of the water rides because none of us felt like getting any wetter than we did from the light rain. Macauley likes the area with all the vacuum tubes and balls to suck up.

His favorite is usually the American Plunge, but we just stopped by the Water Tree nearby.

The park was decorated for fall and the weather felt fall-like--so nice.

Lindsay and Tyson also stopped by the park and Ryan rode some of the roller coasters while Macauley and I watched from the observation decks. Macauley got really upset watching Ryan on Powder Keg, which is a really scary one. He did not like seeing his Daddy in "danger."

On the way out, Macauley made a lucky penny...maybe it will help us sell our house!

I'm really glad we went down there. It's nice to have something like that so close.

Happy Bday Grandma!

We went to Lambert's (Home of the Throwed Rolls) in Ozark last night to celebrate Ryan's mother's birthday. For her gift, I put together a wooden basket and fall towels I found at TJ Maxx and some mums and some wine charms with a Thanksgiving theme (Linda hosts a lavish and yummy Thanksgiving feast at her house every year!).

Ryan comes from a wonderful family and I feel so lucky to have married into it.

I have a pretty wonderful family myself, and my sister Lindsay came along for some pot roast, mashed potatoes, fried okra (fried Oprah as Macauley calls it), fried potatoes and sweet tea. Oh, and to wish Linda happy birthday...

And Macauley left with a balloon he named Jeffrey.

Love, Grace

Guess what my cute little boy came home from kindergarten with yesterday? His first love note! I am so glad that he has been making several new friends, most of whom are girls, and one of which is Grace.



She drew these adorable drawings at home and brought them to school in the envelope for Macauley. One is the two of them on the beach, the other just a happy shot with a blue sky and sunshine. Another small bonus rainbow drawing was tucked inside, too.

Macauley did some drawings to take to her today. His were all in yellow and not as detailed as Grace's but he went with the pink envelope and drew the heart by her name. He said he just walked by her desk and dropped it on her paper while she was working this morning. I can't wait to meet this girl!